Reads :: Books About Space for Pre-Schoolers

One of Noey's favourite subjects to learn about is Space. I might have swung it back towards Dinosaurs with all the crazy stuff for his party, but Space is still up there!

When I was hunting down appropriate books for him, I found our library a real treasure trove of informational books. These books are conveniently grouped together by topic on the shelves, so we found ourselves working our way through the shelf for pre-schoolers. (Check out the shelves for call numbers 523 and 629!) 

I guess Space is one of those topics that children, both boys and girls, tend to gravitate to a some point, so there are plenty of books to choose from. Too many in fact. Sifting through them for good titles took a while. Another problem we faced was trying to find interesting and engaging titles. There are plenty of factual titles filled with loads of information about individual planets and their gazilion moons (and all their names!!), and parts of our solar system I never knew existed, like the Kuiper Belt. Being the information hoarder that he is, Noey enjoyed these books, but I didn't find them so fun to read. 

It took me some time, but I eventually hunted down some titles which I liked and which Noey was able to appreciate too. Here are some titles to share. All these titles are available at the library, but they are books that I am considering adding to our own collection at home. As I said, there are plenty of books in the library, and we definitely have not read anywhere close to all of them, so this is really a personal selection of mostly non-fiction books which we found interesting, with the main audience being the younger set.

(Note: I didn't expect to be writing this post when I borrowed these books from the library, so I didn't take any photos of them or the pages within. The images of the covers found here were obtained off the web.)

There's No Place Like Space! by Tish Rabe

This is a good introductory book to the solar system. Together with the Cat in the Hat, (and Thing 1 and Thing 2), you embark on a journey through our solar system, learning about the planets, the sun and the moon. Basically all the fundamentals! Some constellations are thrown in for good measure and Pluto also gets a mention as a dwarf planet. What I like about this is that it is clearly targeted at the younger set with the text written in rhyme à la Dr Seuss. Yet, it still manages to incorporate interesting facts that the children would enjoy learning. And of course, if your child is a fan of Dr Seuss and the Cat in the Hat, they would love this book! Like I said, it's an introductory book, so don't expect anything too deep. A fun read.

The Planets by Gail Gibbons

Gaill Gibbons is one of my favourite children's non-fiction author-illustrators. Her artwork is lovely and she likes to incorporate little interesting details which make them a delight to pore over. This book is her introduction to the planets in our solar system, and for an introductory book, I think she does a great job giving just a bit more information to the write-ups on each planet to keep it from being superficial. Lots of factual information in easy-to-understand, bite-size pieces. 

 

Boy, Were We Wrong About the Solar System by Kathleen V Kudlinski

This book is different from the usual kind which typically introduce each planet and proceed from there to give you information about them. Instead, this book is really written from a historical stand-point, describing how scientific exploration and discoveries have changed what we understand about our world and its place in the universe. Starting from the belief that the earth was at the centre of the solar system and following on from there to show the development of scientific thinking, the book introduces each development using the following pattern: (1) Introduces the original thinking; (2) "Boy, were we wrong!"; (3) Describes what we think now. I like that it shows that space exploration is an ongoing thing, and that what we currently believe might be proven false in future. In between, there is also useful information about our solar system to be learnt. 

Comets and Stars, the Moon and Mars by Douglas Florian

Poetry for children! Ok, this one is not a non-fiction book, but I'm squeezing it into this list because we found it interesting, and the poems about each celestial body (what is the correct collective term anyway??) are based on fact. I am a fan of Douglas Florian's work, both the cute rhymes and the creative collage artwork. In this book, each two-page spread features a short, easy-to-understand poem about one subject, for example the sun, a planets, the moon, a constellation, etc. Each page also has die-cut "planet" holes which allow the reader to travel deeper into space as they turn the page, which I thought was a neat touch. There's also a "Galactic Glossary" at the end with a short write-up on the topic of each poem, accompanied by a list of books and websites.

 

Floating in Space by Franklyn M. Branley

Ever wondered what it would be like to be an astronaut? This book will give you a taste of that. Take off on a space shuttle mission and learn about life in space. Kids will be tickled by the pictures and descriptions of how astronauts have to learn new ways of eating, sleeping and using the toilet. My son was quite fascinated by the picture of an astronaut trying to catch spheres of liquid floating about with his straw! There are also interesting and amusing observations, like the fact that astronauts actually grow about an inch in space as their joints relax in nearly zero-gravity, only to shrink back down to size when they return to earth. A nice introduction to the coolest job (not) on earth!

 

If You Decide to Go to the Moon by Faith McNulty

"If you decide to go to the moon, read this book first. It will tell you how to get there and what to do after you land. The most important part tells you how to get home." And with this introduction, the reader is brought on a step-by-step journey all the way to the moon and back. Written in the style of a handbook, this is another cute book about space travel that the kids will enjoy. I found it rather detailed in its descriptions of life aboard a spacecraft, and also in its descriptions of the moon and what you would see and experience there. It might be a bit wordy, but the text is easy to understand, and will generate plenty of discussion. 

This Is The Way To The Moon by Miroslav Sasek

This book was one that I enjoyed more than my son. Still a classic more than 40 years after the book was first published, This is the Way to the Moon is a throwback in time to Amercia during the days of the space race. With clever and funny illustrations that kids and adults would appreciate, the book offers an insight into the development of the American space programme and the hip and happenin' world of Cape Canaveral from where the first rockets were launched. The book has also been updated with a "This is… Today" section at the end. It was a bit beyond Noey, who did not appreciate the significance of what it took to finally put a man in space and bring him back again, but its a book I'm sure he can go back to when he is slightly older and better placed to understand the history behind mankind's first lunar landing.

Before I end, I would like to mention one other book that I've been meaning to pick up but have not managed to get: Our Solar Systemby Seymour Simon. This book has gotten quite a few good reviews, especially in relation to its photographs of the planets and other space objects. This is one that is on our reading list so I thought it'd be useful to just make a note of it here.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but I hope you'll find it useful for starting your kids on this very exciting topic of Space.

If you have any recommendations for Books About Space, please share! I would love to add to our collection on this too!